TAMUKA Mucha admits he is still in dreamland following his sensational victory against Paddy Gallagher in a British title eliminator.

The 23-year-old Reading welterweight extended his undefeated professional record to 16 fights with victory by majority decision at the SSE Arena in Wembley last Friday.

The contest was described by critics including promoter and former world champion Barry McGuigan as the fight of the night, even topping the main event that saw George Groves retain his WBA International super-middleweight title against Germany’s Eduard Gutknecht.

And Mucha confessed: “I still think I’m dreaming and that I will wake up soon.

“But it was great to get the job done and to execute the job so well.

“The first three rounds were the toughest I’ve been in, he wanted to knock my head off.

“He hit me with a lot of power punches so I had to box clever.

“I took the second round then gave away the third, but by the fourth I could feel his power was going away, he wasn’t punching as hard and that gave me more confidence.

“After that I started to push him back and put him under pressure, which he didn’t like.

“I always knew I had enough left in the tank to take the later rounds.

“I still had to be careful because I knew he possessed a knockout punch. But I got into a good rhythm and started to hurt him.”

Mucha put his unbeaten crown on the line against Gallagher, a former Commonwealth gold medal winner.

But his superior speed and skill was too much for the big-punching Belfast man.

He added: “I’ve got a lot of respect for Paddy. He’s a tough competitor and he came to win.

“He never gave in, but neither did I.

“Barry McGuigan predicted it would be the fight of the night and a lot of people came up to me to say they thought it was.

“We were two evenly-matched boxers and people like watching a close fight.

“I’m just so happy I came through it.”

Friday’s fight, televised live on Channel 5, was by far the biggest Mucha has been involved in and he was cheered on by a strong following from his hometown among the thousands of spectators.

“They reckons there were 8,000 people watching and I’ve never boxed in front of a crowd like that before and on such a big stage,” he said.

“I didn’t let the nerves get to me, I stayed focussed and stuck to the gameplan. I want to be fighting in front of crowds as big of that in the future, so it was a good experience for me.”

He continued: “My body was a bit sore afterwards, but that’s okay and I can see our of my eye again which is good.

“I’ll rest and recover for a while then be back in the gym as soon as possible before looking for the next fight.”

The victory moved Mucha up to fifth in the British welterweight rankings and closer to a British title fight.

“That’s what I want, but they are all great boxers in front of me,” said Mucha. “I want to push into that top five then see how far I can go.”

In the meantime, Mucha will continue to train hard with the support of his main sponsors.

“I would like to thank my sponsors GymFlooring, David Lloyd Clubs and Usana, my coaching staff, Bristol Boxing Club and TJ Fitness & Wellbeing,” he stated.

“I also want to thank my media team Shahbaz Choudhry at The Deep End for all of their efforts in preparing me and making this event as successful as it was.”